It is customary in systems used for reclaiming refrigerants to include means for water or air-cooled condensers to aid in the process. Normally, because of the usual small size and capacity of reclamation units in the industry today, utility requirements (air, water, heat from external electrical heaters, etc.) are not a particular concern. However, such utility requirements present a definite limitation on how large a unit can be manufactured, considering the practicalities. Speed of refrigerant reclamation is also of particular importance in such systems.
More specifically, in present day refrigerant distillation and reclamation systems, a contaminated refrigerant inlet leads into a distillation chamber, wherein electrical heaters, controlled by an external electrical source and thermostat, are located below the liquid level in the chamber established by the flow of contaminated refrigerant. Of course, a drain for the contaminant is also provided in the chamber. Such heaters cause the contaminated refrigerant to boil and establish a vapor above the liquid level in the chamber. The hot vapor flows into a compresser and then into a water cooled condenser, which outputs distilled refrigerant. The water cooled condenser is operated and controlled by the provision of a water inlet and water outlet for cooling purposes. Thus, water (or air) for cooling and external electrical energy in large quantities is required for vaporing the contaminated refrigerant in these present day systems; and the larger the unit, the more such utilities (water, air, and/or electricity) will be required, leading to a practical limitation on the size of the unit which can be efficiently and practically built.
Examples of such present day systems are disclosed in Taylor U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,646,527, Staggs 4,539,817, Van Steenburgh 5,243,832, Lofland 4,856,289, Scuderi 4,766,733 and Miner 3,145,543. The foregoing represents disclosures of systems which suffer from one or more of the deficiencies and/or limitations pointed out above.